The Band

Click on a band members picture below to read a short biog.

Russ

Ok a bit about me - first off, some facts and figures: I was born in 1988 and am founder/songwriter in Syruss.

Music is my big passion - everything about it but mainly this band! I've been playing guitar for about 4 years and been writing my own stuff and singing for about 3 of those. I've experimented with many different styles/types of music, many of which are still present in my "sound" and many of which I will probably go back to in time. However I think I've found a style I'm happy with and formed Syruss to let you hear it too!

I like my music loud!! The louder it is the better it sounds in my opinion, heavy riffs, heavy drums, heavy bass, a good, strong, melodic vocal and a degree of intelligence is what I look for in music and definitely what I want in the music we produce!

My favorite band overall has to be Motorhead not least of all because they happen to have the coolest front man in the business but also because of their style. I respect the fact that they have always maintained the attitude that they're not going to "play the game" and they do things on their terms. I also love the music. They have an awesome balance between the two types of music I would call my favourites: Blues and Metal!

My influences for the stuff I write for Syruss however are far more varied and come from many different artists spanning different years. As I said, my two favorite types of music are Blues and Metal/Rock so most of the people I draw influence from come from one of those genres.

Guitar wise my main blues influence would have to be Stevie Ray Vaughan I love both his style and his delivery. More recently Joe Bonamassa has become something of a idol for me with regards to both his playing and his vocal style (he did an awesome gig at the Tavistock Wharf in Devon back in 2007, first time I caught him live - catch him next time he plays near you if you can). From the metal side there is obviously Motorhead but I am also a huge fan of Metallica the intelligence behind both their riffs/song structure and their lyrics has been a big inspiration for me in both writing and playing.

Vocally my main influences are James Hetfield, Lemmy(mainly lyrical it must be said), Roger Daltrey and a lot of the old Blues guys, as well as some of the young ones such as Joe Bonamassa and Stevie Ray. I try to keep the vocal parts melodic, I'm all about loud heavy riffs (and play with at least 11 gauge strings to get that) but screaming and shouting is not my style. As it happens, I think that screaming and shouting is what puts most people off heavy music and while there is a time and a place for it (Slipknot would not sound right without the screaming) it is mostly not good! It is harder to fit melodies over really heavy riffs but in my opinion it's always worth the extra time.

My other main inspiration when it comes to song writing is Pete Townsend (who I was lucky enough to meet when The Who played Ashton Gate in Bristol). He truly is a pioneer: riffs, lyrics, subject matter. It was all there in spades. True, he did go a little arty for me at times with things like Tommy and some of the Quadrophenia stuff but for the most of it Pete was/is right on the mark!!

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